Brandon Huffman On UNC’s Summer Evaluation List

CERRITOS, Calif. — While North Carolina continues to pursue its established, long-time frontcourt targets in the 2017 class, Brandon Huffman is another name to monitor this summer.

Huffman has traveled coast to coast during the course of his academic career, but before too long he’ll begin to establish roots. The son of a career military man, Huffman arrived at Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God after spending a couple years in Alaska.

He has made immense progress over the past nine months. The 6-9 rising senior center expanded his skillset this past season at Word of God and also traveled this spring with both CP3 and Team Loaded NC.

Huffman received ample exposure this weekend at the Pangos All-American Camp, where numerous national and Western scouts evaluated him closely for the first time. He played his way into the top all-star game and generally demonstrated the kind of mobility and athleticism major conference programs seek in an interior anchor.

He also played alongside overall No. 1 prospect DeAndre Ayton and thought the two complemented each other well.

“My game flourished out here,” Huffman said. “The style is a little different and it’s a lot of uptempo. DeAndre is kind of like Wendell Carter, he’s a big that can pass. And that’s good because there’s a high-low opportunity, and bigs don’t usually get the ball that much at camps.”

Huffman’s recruitment also has become increasingly intense. He holds multiple high-major offers and seems to generate further momentum from event to event.

“(On Saturday), I got an offer from USC and right before that I got Rutgers,” Huffman said. “It’s been pretty gradual. In the spring I got Kansas State, Tennessee, Baylor, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Xavier, TCU, ECU, VCU and some other ones.”

North Carolina also has put eyes on Huffman multiple times this year already. He began the spring with CP3 on the EYBL circuit but switched to Team Loaded NC — which features committed junior Rechon Black and offered Jairus Hamilton — for the second leg of the April evaluation period.

Although the interest is best categorized as preliminary, the two parties continue to be in contact.

“I hear from them every now and then, they’re recruiting me, I see them at our games on Adidas,” Huffman said. “I play with Rechon Black, so they’re always watching pretty much and they hit my phone from time to time.”

While nothing appears imminent in terms of a more serious overture, that possibility remains on the table for the late summer.

”They talk to my high school coach (Brian Clifton) a lot, and they say they’re at the point where they’re just evaluating and watching and everything,” he said. “I mostly talk to C.B. McGrath and I’ve talked to Coach (Hubert) Davis also.”

Huffman will embark for Italy on Tuesday for an Adidas-run European camp. He’ll also continue to tour with Loaded and compete in Atlanta and Las Vegas next month.